CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) Stake Boosted by Martingale Asset Management L P

Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its stake in shares of CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 973 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in CME Group were worth $2,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of CME Group by 287.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 186,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,175,000 after buying an additional 138,412 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CME Group by 9.7% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CME Group by 17.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,013,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of CME Group by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 234,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,757,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in CME Group by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 87.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank raised shares of CME Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on CME Group from $263.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on CME Group from $209.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James upgraded CME Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of CME Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $301.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $246.80.

CME Group Price Performance

Shares of CME stock opened at $258.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.79. CME Group Inc. has a one year low of $190.70 and a one year high of $273.42. The firm has a market cap of $93.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.43.

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.06. CME Group had a net margin of 57.52% and a return on equity of 13.62%. On average, analysts expect that CME Group Inc. will post 10.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CME Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a boost from CME Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. CME Group’s payout ratio is 51.71%.

Insider Activity

In other CME Group news, COO Suzanne Sprague sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.83, for a total value of $385,245.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,063,885.88. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Howard J. Siegel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,686,980. This represents a 31.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,076 shares of company stock worth $6,871,496. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

CME Group Company Profile

CME Group Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services.